BERKELEY – California looks to cap a strong first-half of the season when seniors Andre Goransson, Florian Lakat and Filip Bergevi compete in the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships from Thursday through Sunday in Flushing Meadows, New York. The tournament will take place at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, where last year Goransson reached the main draw singles final and collected the event's Sportsmanship Award (see below).
 
The national indoor tournament consists of a 32-player singles draw and a 20-team doubles draw. Live scoring for national indoors will be available for the entire tournament at this Columbia webpage. FloTennis will provide live streaming coverage of the entire 2016 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships. A subscription-based company, FloTennis offers its users monthly and annual rate payment options. For more information and to view the live stream, click on this link. To view updated draws and read daily recaps from the event, visit the ITA Championship Central page here. You can also follow the conversation on Twitter by following @ITA_Tennis and using the hashtag #NIIC.

Goransson and Lakat will compete in singles at national indoors, while the pair of Bergevi and Lakat - which is seeded No. 1 at national indoors - will play in doubles in Flushing Meadows. The draws are available on the ITA event page here.
 
Scouting the Bears

• Andre Goransson qualified for national indoors by capturing the singles title in the ITA Northwest Regional Championships presented by Oracle, which Cal hosted. The Hollviken, Sweden, native defeated teammate and compatriot Filip Bergevi – from Ahus, Sweden – in the final, 6-4, 7-6(3), at the Hellman Tennis Complex.
• Goransson brings an 11-2 singles record to New York.
• Bergevi and Paris, France, product Florian Lakat earned their way to Flushing Meadows by winning the doubles crown at the Saint Francis Health System All-American Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Bears beat North Florida's Jack Findel-Hawkins and Lasse Muscheites, 6-4, 6-2, in the final at the University of Tulsa's Michael D. Case Tennis Center.
• The Cal duo has a 7-0 doubles record this fall.
• Lakat (6-2) also qualified for singles at national indoors during the All-American by reaching the quarterfinals in Tulsa.

Last Year at National Indoors: Goransson Falls in Final
Andre Goransson closed a strong fall in 2015 with a run to the main draw singles final at the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships. The Cal star lost in the Nov. 15 title match to Tulane's Dominik Koepfer.
 
The 22nd-ranked Goransson fell to the hard-hitting Koepfer – ranked 10th – 6-1, 7-5 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Goransson collected the tournament's Sportsmanship Award the day before the final.
 
Bears have now wound up as the national indoor singles runners-up three times. Erstwhile Cal star Michael Bauer reached the championship match in the tournament's second year in 1981, losing to Arkansas' Chip Hooper, 5-7, 6-2, 6-2. Former Bear Steve DeVries lost to USC's Luke Jensen in the 1987 final, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4.
 
The Bears have won three doubles titles at national indoors – and they did it by winning three straight. Woody Hunt and Ted Scherman took the 1989 crown, Doug Eisenman and Matt Lucena triumphed in 1990, and Lucena and Bent-Ove Pederson won the championship in 1991.
 
Last Time: Barretto Wins Singles Flight C in SMC Invite
Cal's Dominic Barretto won the C flight singles title in the one-day Saint Mary's Invitational on Oct. 29 at the Timothy Korth Tennis Complex. Five Golden Bears competed in the rain-shortened tournament, which was originally scheduled to run from Friday through Sunday.
 
Barretto, a freshman, defeated Calvin Jordaan of the host Gaels, 7-5, 6-4, in the C semifinals and then beat Everett Maltby of UC Davis in the final, 6-2, 6-2. Cal sophomore Gunther Matta and freshmen Nico Brightbill, Ryan Cardiff and Connor Heap also played in Moraga
 
Bears Celebrate 125 Years of Cal Tennis
Cal men's tennis is celebrating the 125th year of the program, which has produced multiple national champions and All-Americans in its storied history. The perennial powerhouse, which was founded in 1892, has won three national team titles, four national singles titles and 14 national doubles championships from NCAA, USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championships and ITA All-American Championships. The Golden Bears have also captured several conference singles and doubles titles as well.
 
Now in his 24th year as head coach at his alma mater, Peter Wright has coached 17 players who combined to earn 18 All-America honors and led the 2015-16 squad to the NCAA team semifinals. Wright has earned his share of accolades along the way, including his third Pac-12 Coach of the Year award last season and selection into the USTA NorCal Hall of Fame in the summer of 2015.
 
Poll Position
The Oracle/ITA preseason singles and doubles rankings will stand through the fall, with new singles and doubles rankings – as well as the first team poll – slated to come out on Jan. 5, 2017. Cal seniors Florian Lakat and Filip Bergevi claimed the No. 2 spot in the preseason doubles rankings. Last season, the pair advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Doubles Championship and earned All-America doubles honors after posting a 16-5 record. Also in the preseason singles poll, four Bears earned rankings: Lakat (18-12 record last year) is 13th, senior Andre Goransson (25-14) is ranked 17th, Griffith (27-8), a junior, stands at No. 61 and Bergevi (25-6) is ranked 77th.
 
Next Time
Cal begins the New Year on Jan. 27, when the Bears host one of 16 ITA Kick-Off Weekends around the nation. On Jan. 27 at the Hellman Tennis Complex, the Bears will take on Cal Poly, while Tulane plays Pepperdine. The two winners will face off on Jan. 28 at Hellman, with the eventual champion advancing to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship that's slated for Feb. 17-20 in Charlottesville, Virginia.